Breaking News: Pierre Gauthier Is No Longer Habs GM

Update 11:55AM: Bob Gainey also out of Montreal. Serge Savard brought in as special advisor for the new GM search.

Update 11:20AM: TSN's Darren Dreger is suggesting that Bob Gainey will step aside as well. Still no word on Randy Cunneyworth's status.

In a move that has been many months coming, Pierre Gauthier has been relieved of his duties as the General Manager of te Montreal Canadiens. The Habs and presumably Geoff Molson will hold a press conference at 11:45AM on Thursday morning to formally announce the news, and their plans going forward.

The timing of the announcement from the Canadiens is interesting to say the least, as the team was just officially eliminated from the playoffs this week. That said, we all knew it was coming for a long time. The Canadiens have had no chance to make the playoffs for a while, and the general consensus in the city was that Gauthier would be the one to take the brunt of the blame, especially after he fired his last scapegoat in Jacques Martin back in December.

Gauthier has been a part of the Montreal Canadiens organization since Bob Gainey's first year as general manager in 2003, when he was hired as head of pro scouting. Before coming to Montreal, Gauthier had been the GM of the Anaheim Ducks and Ottawa Senators. His moves in Montreal ranged from devent to absolutely horrible over the last two seasons, but after this season, and their inevitable 15th in the East finish, there really wasn't any other choice to make here by owner and president Geoff Molson.

No word on where the team will go from here. Bob Gainey is still technically part of the upper management staff at the Bell Centre, and he could very well take over interim duties or even the job he gave to Gauthier two years ago, but let's hope that's not the case. More details will certainly be announced at the press conference, and I would guess that we're in for a spring of interviews and speculation before the position is filled.

We'll be on top of the situation as it develops, and I'll be back with more analysis later today.

Between this, and Anchorman 2 being announced last night, this is certainly a good day. For now, let me show you this video to express how I really feel: